Basant ritu aayee re chhaayee hai hariyaalee
Posted by: Atul on: December 5, 2025
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Today’s song is from the film Ratnavali-1945. It was neither a Flop nor a Hit film. Despite the prediction of the film magazine Film India about its total failure, it did recover its cost and made a good profit also. Although it was labelled as a ‘Social Film’, by the HFGK, it was actually a Costume film, based on a King, Queens and Vazier type story.
The film was made by Amar Pictures, Bombay. It was directed by Virendra Desai, son of the owner-Chimanlal Desai and the music was by Pt. Govind Ram- one of the most respected senior Music Directors of those times. Many younger composers treated him as their Idol. C.Ramchandra was one of such composers. The cast of the film included Surendra, Ratnamala, Maya Banerjee, Usha mantri, Leela Mishra, K.N.Singh, Ansari and others.
Amar Pictures was owned by Chimanlal Desai- who had established Sagar movietone in 1930 along with Dr. Ambalal Patel. Both were actually in the Distribution business, but they entered the film production line with the help of Ardeshir Irani of Imperial Film Company. Dr. Patel left Sagar around 1936 to go back to his Distribution business again and Chimanlal left Sagar in 1939 to form National Studios, joining hands with RCA’s Yusuf Fazalbhoy.
Such a powerful company like Sagar was in deep financial troubles, presumably due to the effects of the second world war on the film industry. According to Film Historian Bunny Reuben, the cause of Financial crisis was Chimanbhai’s gambling. One night Chimanlal Desai and Ranjit’s Sardar Chandulal Shah were travelling to Bombay in a train together. Both were gamblers to the core ( after a few more years Ranjit came to tatters due to the gambling of Chandulal Shah, when he lost more than a Crore in one day in Cotton trading…and when the news came,Chandulal was playing cards !). They decided to play cards with high stakes. Chimanlal started losing heavily and finally he lost Sagar’s “Alibaba”-a film made by Mehboob, to Chandulal in one game. That was the end of Sagar.
As such, Chimanlal had never owned a studio ( he owned only the Production company) himself. Sagar studio was owned by the Imperial film company and National was owned by Fazalbhoy. He wanted his own company, so within 8 months he left National studios and started Amar Pictures. Amar was the name of the son of Chimanlal’s eldest son Surendra Desai.
The film’s composer Govind Ram is not a name very well known to many people. Let us know more about him here….
Among Govind Ram’s landmarks are the introduction of and enormous contribution to making Shamshad Begum and Zohrabai the top singers in Hindi films. He recorded the maximum number of Hindi film songs with Shamshad Begum – 86 songs in 19 films. He was also one of the foremost music directors to encourage and bring forward great veteran Rafi , and also introduced great singer Zeenat Begum to films. He has about 30 films to his credit and each one had equally superb music. Most popular singers of that period have graced his songs. His use of light music, Ghazals, Thumris and various popular music forms in films, provide a ready insight into the uniqueness of 1940s music, and with a slightly unique flavour of both his compositions as well as a tiny tinge of Punjabi style.
Pandit Gobindram started his career with Jeevan Jyoti (1937), which starred Shakuntala Bai, R. L. Monge and Urmila Devi. The film unfortunately went unnoticed. This was followed by another unsuccessful film, Khooni Jadoogar (1939). the 1940s was the true decade for Gobindram Ji. His Punjabi filmography is not properly available, but his first Hindi film in the 1940s was Himmat (1941). Today, it is remembered for being the second ever Hindi film of veteran singer Shamshad Begum , where she beautifully sang the traditional Dadra ‘Inhin Logon Ne Le Leena Dupatta Mora’ with Aziz , in her young, sweet but powerful voice. The famous song with the same lyrics in Pakeezah (1972) is largely a copy of this song. This was the first song composed by Gobindram that helped him gain recognition. Other songs from this film included ‘Is Jag Ke Sundar Natak Ka’,the first solo film song of Zohrabai from 1941 to 1950, and a beautiful duet by Ghulam Haider Ji and Umraozia Begum , ‘Main Hoon Rani Ek Sunehri Nagri Ki’.
But it was his next film, Mangti (1942) in Punjabi, which made him one of the most sought after music directors of the 1940s. This was the debut film for top Lahori singer Zeenat Begum , apart from being the first film for famous heroine Mumtaz Shanti , and took both of them as well as Gobindram to the top notch. This film, which went on to become the first silver jubilee Punjabi film, played an important role in popularising Punjabi folk tunes and the use of a mix of original Hindi film music and Punjabi folk music in films. ‘Aawe Chan We’, ‘Mainoon Suttiyan Neend Na Aayi’, ‘Sapne Wich Mahi Aaya, ‘Tere Daras Di Pyasi’ and ‘Ud Ja Bholeya Panchiya’ (with Nandlal Nurpuri ) were some memorably melodious songs in which Zeenat shone under Gobindram . It is also worth remembering for being the first ever South Asian film to have a female Qawwali, ‘Baanke Nainanwaleya, Nainan Milanda’ by Zeenat and Rehmat Bai , a very enjoyable one. This legacy was continued only 3 years later in Hindi films, with the famous Qawwali of Zeenat (1945), ‘Aahein Na Bhareen’ (Noor Jehan , Zohrabai , Kalyanibai ). Other songs in this film were by the talented Shamshad Begum and Rehmat Bai .
Gobindram worked with more than 30 lyricists during his career. With 56 songs in 8 films, his collaboration was the highest with Ishwar Chandra Kapoor . The films where the two worked together were Bholi, Chor, Doosri Shadi, Ghar Ki Izzat, Maa Ka Pyaar, Naseeb, Ratnavali and Sassi Punnu. Some of the other prominent lyricists he worked with include Bharat Vyas (Chor, Jalpari, Jeevan Nauka, Raj Mukut), Ram Murti Chaturvedi (Chor, Naseeb, Parinde, Ratnavali), Ramesh Gupta (Hamara Sansar, Jeevan Nauka), and Qamar Jalalabadi (Pagli, Sahara, Sarkar). He gave music to about 30 Hindi films. (adapted, with thanks, from an article by Vidur Sury)
As far as the Heroine Ratnamala is concerned, how many of us really know anything about this actress. It is surprising that a very lovely and beautiful actress, who was Heroine of about 20 films in the 40s and has about 300 films to her credit remains practically unknown. She was the Heroine with Saraswati Cinetone, Prabhat Film company Sagar, Ranjit, Prakash pictures etc- all well known banners. She was in films for 50+ years and was a famous name in Marathi films of Dada Kondke.
It’s a great pity that hardly any or no information about her is available in books,Encyclopedias, wiki or on the Internet. When all sources of information come to a dead end, I turn to Harish Raghuwanshi ji of Surat and I am never disappointed. Here, I provide a short Biodata of Ratnamala, based principally on the articles given by Harish ji. Thanks, Harish ji.
She was born as Kamal Bhivandkar on 22-6-1923 in Bombay. Her father was Auditor of Central Bank, Bombay. She was good looking and could sing well. From the age of 14 years, she went on the stage of several Ganesh Melas prevalent in those times. She earned 5-10 rupees per performance. Due to the family’s financial problems, she started looking for work. She was proficient in Marathi, Gujarati, English and Urdu languages. In 1938, she was picked up by Dada Torne of Sarswati Cinetone, Poona, who cast her as Heroine in Marathi film’ Bhagwa Zenda ‘. Seeing her performance, she was taken by Prabhat Film company for the Marathi version of their film Das Baje-42. Torne had renamed her as Ratnamala.
Vijay Bhatt of Prakash Pictures offered her a role in film ” Bharat Milap-42″, when Kusum Deshpande selected for the role of Bharat’s wife fell ill. Seeing her performance, she was selected as a Heroine for the film ‘ Station Master-42 ‘. Here too the original Heroine Jyoti fell ill. Then came Panghat-43, Police-44, Kavita-44 etc. She acted in many Mythological films also. Some of her well known films were, Dholak, Maya Bazar, Sasural, Bhabhi ki Chudiyan, Faulad, Woh kaun thi, Nishan, Bahu beti, Mera Saayaa, Raaz, SaraswatiChandra, Brahmachari, Upahaar, Seeta aur Geeta, Nastik etc etc.
She acted in 130 Hindi films and many more in Marathi films. Later she did side roles. She became famous as the mother of Dada Kondke in 11 of his films. She was called ‘ Aaye ‘ (आये ) in the Marathi films of Kondke.
Ratnamala was married to Producer Director Raja Pandit, when she was very young. As Ratnamala became successful and Raja became a failure, their marriage went on the rocks. She had one Son-Jaikumar, who had also acted in one film. Unfortunately, he died suddenly in an accident. Ratnamala lived in her own Bungalow in Andheri, Bombay, along with her foster son-Ramesh. Ratnamala died of a heart attack on 23rd January 1989.
The story of the film ‘Ratnavali’ is based on a Sanskrit drama written by King Harsh Vardhan. Ratnavali, princess of Lanka is very beautiful. She is blessed with a boon that whosoever marries her, will become the king of the world. So, all kings and maharajas are eager to marry her. They send their representatives to Lanka. Only the minister of the kingdom of Kaushambi succeeds in taking her to his state. The king falls in love with her. However the existing queen resists this marriage and problems arise. After many ups and downs, the queen Vasav Datta agrees and Ratnavali and the king get married.
Here is this film’s song sung by Zohrabai, Moti B A and Chorus. Enjoy….
Song- Basant ritu aayee re chhaayee hai hariyaalee (Ratnavali)(1945) Singers-Zohrabai, Moti B.A., Lyricist- Ram Murti Chaturvedi, MD- Govind Ram
Chorus
Both
Lyrics
Basant ritu
haan
Basant ritu aayee re
chhaayee hai hariyaalee
Basant ritu
haan
Basant ritu aayee re
chhaayee hai hariyaalee
ho hariyaalee
Koi gaaye basant
koi naache bajaake taalee re
Koi gaaye basant
koi naache bajaake taalee re
sakhi aaj sambhal ke rahna
sakhi aaj sambhal ke rahna
gumaan mera sahna
ho aaye Bhagwaan re
chhaayee hai hariyaalee
basant ritu
haan haan
basant ritu aayee re
chhaayee hai hariyaalee
ho hariyaalee
baaje mridang kaheen
baaje jang kaheen
baaje mridang kaheen
baaje jang kaheen
baaje mridang kaheen
baaje jang kaheen
khele rang koi
jhoole jhool rahee
sudh budh bhool rahee
baalam sang koi
jhoole jhool rahee
sudh budh bhool rahee
baalam sang koi
chale rasiya ?? rang madmaate
chale rasiya ?? rang madmaate
navelee albelee
chalee matwaalee re
chaayee hai hariyaalee
basant ritu
haan haan
basant ritu aaye re
chhaayee hai hariyaalee
ho hariyaalee
maariyo taan taan kaam dev kusum baan
raaja aur rank sabhee mohit bhaye
maariyo taan taan kaam dev kusum baan
raaja aur rank sabhee mohit bhaye
mahak uthhe ban upwan
chahak uthhe panchheegan
bhoomi gagan sabhee ?? bhaye
sookhe kheton mein chhaayee hai hariyaalee
ho hariyaalee
sookhe kheton mein chhaayee hai hariyaalee
koi ban mein koyaliya aayee re
chaayee hai hariyaalee
vasant ritu
haan haan vasant ritu aaye re
chaayee hai hariyaalee
ho hariyaalee
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
December 8, 2025 at 8:59 am
Good Morning,
Thanks for sharing a very pleasant song.
Old is gold.
Blessings
Uma🙏
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